Sound-producing device for toys for imitating voices, particularly of birds



Nov. 20, 1962 F. COLLISCHAN 3,064,388

SOUND-PRODUCING DEVICE FOR TOYS FOR IMITATING VOICES, PARTICULARLY OF BIRDS Filed May 21, 1959 United States Patent 3,064,388 SGUND-PRQDUCENG DEVICE BOB TOYS FQR IMITATENG VGTCES, PARTICULARLY @F BIRDS Fritz Collisehan, Nnrnberg, Germany, assignor to The Firm Georg Ktihler, Nurnberg, Germany Filed May 21, 1959, Ser. No. 814,799 Claims priority, appiication Germany Feb. 21, 1959 3 Claims. ('31. 46189) The invention relates to a sound-producing device for toys for imitating the voices particularly of birds.

For imitating the chirping or piping tones it is known to use whistles which are provided with an adjustable bottom so as to be able to change the pitch. These soundproducing devices have given satisfaction. They can, however, only be used for producing chirping or piping tones.

The object of the invention is to produce a soundproducing device for toys which enables other tones, for example trilling notes to be imitated. Such a soundproducing device is, according to the invention, characterized by a sound-box with a cover wall constructed as a diaphragm on which a resilient arm capable of being vibrated engages.

The object of the invention is attained in an advantageous manner in that a metal foil serves as a diaphragm and covers the housing of the sound-box made from plastic material. The edge of the metal foil can engage over the housing of the box like a slip-on lid and be held thereon by an adhesive strip stuck on the slip-on edge and the housing of the box.

The sound-producing device equipped according to the invention enables different tones to be produced depending upon whether the resilient arm is caused to vibrate rapidly or slowly. The diaphragm composed of a metal foil results in considerable amplification of the tones generated by the oscillating resilient arm. A further advantage is that the sound-box can be constructed as a shallow fiat box, preferably of triangular cross-section so that, requiring but little space, it can be easily accommodate in the toy, even if this is equipped with driving gear.

Other advantages and features of the invention are set forth in the following description of the drawing which illustrates schematically by way of example one embodiment of the invention,

FIG. 1 being a perspective view of a sound-box;

FIG. 2 a section on line 11-11 of FIG. 1, and

FIG. 3 a section on line III-III of FIG. 2.

As the drawing shows, the device consists of a flat box composed substantially of a housing a and a cover plate b. The housing a forming one end wall and the peripheral wall of the box is preferably made from plastic substance, for example by injection molding or pressure casting, but may also be coated with a plastic foil. The cover plate b forms the other end wall of the box and consists of a metal foil and serves as a diaphragm. Its downwardly bent edge 0 slips on to the housing a and is secured in position by means of an adhesive strip d which is wrapped round the narrow side of the housing and engages both the housing wall and also the slip-on edge 0, as shown in FIG. 3.

A resilient arm e engages the diaphragm b. It can be fixed in position by means of a welded-on plastic rivet 7. As shown in the drawing, the head of the rivet f is formed about a hole in the diaphragm b, a portion of the head being located on each side of the diaphragm, and the rivet has a stem f projecting inwardly of the box from the inner portion of the rivet head. The stem f constitutes a rigid post supported on diaphragm b within the box. The arm e is a flat strip of resilient material ice and one end thereof is welded or otherwise fixed to rivet stem f with its broad faces at right angles to the plane of diaphragm b. The free end of this resilient arm projects into the range or path of movement of a movable part of the toy. This resilient arm e is caused to vibrate to produce tones dependent upon the movement of this part of the toy. Therefore there is correlation between the tone produced and the movement of the movable part of the toy. Instead of using a movable part of the toy for imparting vibrations to the resilient arm, this can also be attained by an element eflfecting the movement of this part of the toy, for example a part of the driving mechanism.

As can be seen from the drawing, the resilient arm e is fixed on the inner side of the diaphragm, projects parallel with the diaphragm and out of the housing through an aperture i in the peripheral wall of the box and is of such length outside the box that it extends into the range or path of movement of the driving member. The aperture i in the peripheral wall of the box permits the free end of arm e to vibrate freely in a plane parallel with the plane of the diaphragm b, as shown in FIGURE 2.

The box housing a is provided with lugs g and h at suitable points enabling the sound-box to be fixed in the toy.

I claim:

1. A sound-producing device for toys and the like comprising a sound box having two end walls and a peripheral wall arranged between the end walls at the edges thereof, one end wall being flat and adapted to act as a vibrating diaphragm, said peripheral wall having an aperture formed therein at one location, a rigid post mounted solely on said flat end Wall within said box and extending inwardly thereof, an elongated arm of resilient material having one end thereof rigidly secured solely to the free end of said post at a point spaced from said end wall, said resilient arm extending parallel with said end wall and the free end thereof extending through said aperture to the outside of said box and being free to vibrate within said aperture in a plane parallel with the plane of said end wall, said arm of resilient material comprising a flat strip of material having a width greater than its thickness, and said strip being arranged with its broad faces at right angles to the plane of said end wall.

2. A sound-producing device for toys and the like comprising a sound box having two end walls and a peripheral wall arranged between the end walls at the edges thereof, one end wall being flat and adapted to act as a vibrating diaphragm, said peripheral wall having an aperture formed therein at one location, a rigid post mounted on said flat end wall within said box and extending inwardly thereof, an elongated arm of resilient material having one end thereof rigidly secured to said post at a point spaced from said end wall, said resilient arm extending parallel with said end wall and the free end thereof extending through said aperture to the outside of said box and being free to vibrate within said aperture in a plane parallel with the plane of said end wall, one end wall and the peripheral wall of said box being formed of plastic material, and the other end wall forming said diaphragm comprising a cover for the box and being formed of metal foil.

3. A device according to claim 2 wherein said cover wall has a bent-down edge portion which overlaps an edge portion of said peripheral wall for a distance less than the depth of the box, and a strip of adhesive material applied around the peripheral wall of said box and overlapping said bent-down portion and a portion of said peripheral wall.

(References on following page) 3 References Cited in the file of this patent 2,174,594 UNITED STATESPATENTS 2,420,076

531,323 Mayland Dec. 25, 1894 7 716,025 Gammell Dec. 16, 1902 5 675,808 1,026,256 Ehrman May 14, 1912 804,131 1,148,916 McMurtry Aug. 3, 1915 907,657

4 Petrov Oct. 3, 1939 Goodwin e.tlal., May 6, 1947 FOREIGN -PATENTS Great Britain July 16, 1952 Great Britain Nov. 5, 1958 France July 9, 1945 

